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Barcelona Crushed Villarreal 5-0 in their opening game of the Season



Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez marked their home debuts for Barcelona in La Liga with goals as the champions crushed Villarreal 5-0 in their opening match of the campaign on Monday.

World Player of the Year Lionel Messi netted twice and Spain Under-21 midfielder Thiago Alcantara was also on the scoresheet for Barca in their bid for a club record-equalling fourth consecutive Spanish title.

The victory was an impressive response to title rivals Real Madrid after Jose Mourinho's side inflicted a 6-0 demolition on Real Zaragoza on Sunday when Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick.

With 75,000 fans packed into a sultry Nou Camp, Barca coach Pep Guardiola opted to leave Spanish World Cup winners Xavi and David Villa on the bench and started with Fabregas in midfield alongside Alcantara, Andres Iniesta and Seydou Keita.

With a number of defenders missing, including injured centre backs Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique and the suspended Daniel Alves, he deployed Sergio Busquets in a three-man defence with Javier Mascherano and Eric Abidal.

After dominating the early stages, Barca went ahead on 25 minutes. As Alcantara ran at the Villarreal defence they backed off waiting for a pass, allowing him space to shoot low past Diego Lopez into the corner of the net.